1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to elevating facilities for high-rise buildings and, specifically—to combinations of elevator & crane systems running on a rail attached to the outside of a building. The facilities may have an elevator portion—for traveling vertically up and down, and a crane portion—to extend a telescopic arm to a desired location and to support a passenger cabin for rescue operations. The crane portion can also have a fire-fighting equipment—to access all parts of a building. The invention can be used for fire-fighting & rescue of people and equipment, and can also be used for construction, repairs and maintenance of high-rise structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, the prototype application for the USA patent “High-Rise Fire-Fighting, Rescue and Construction Equipment” (Ser. No. 10/431,946, filing date—May 08, 2003), comprises a device having and an elevator portion—for traveling vertically up and down outside of a building, and a crane portion—to extend an arm to a desired location. The crane portion can support a passenger cabin for fire rescue; it can also have fire-fighting equipment for an access to all parts of a building. The crane portion can also haul building materials to any part of a building under construction and can be used for window washing or other maintenance activities on the building. The prototype structure doesn't allow to evacuate people from the cabin directly to the elevator portion and to autonomous rescue elevator (and back), and also, from the elevator portion to the autonomous rescue elevator (and back).